Lone Tuner
by Janro
Summary: A lonely Tuner leaves the Tuner realm and wanders off. However a Tuner has come to get him. And it was none other than his 'fellowmodel' Boost. When this happens things go downhill for the lone tuner. Please read and review.
1. Leaving

A lonely young tuner tries to escape the realm of rule-breaking tuners and Boost his 'fellow-model'. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cars or the canon characters from the movie. They are © to Disney and Pixar. I only own the Mitsubishi Eclipse Axel.

* * *

A dark night sky fill the expanse of the horizon, dotted with stars. The highway was very empty although occasional travelers passed. A lone silver Mitsubishi Eclipse ran along the highway cruising at a safe speed. He was young around 14 years only. Yet the reckless driving instinct of a Tuner has been washed out of him. The wind passing through swiftly and smoothly over his streamlined body. He was a tuner alright. The spoiler on his back pushing his body firmly on the ground. 

He was a tuner but alone compared to the others that go in packs. He would have been with his kind. But the thing was almost all the other tuners were bad. Sure they were probably good when they were kids. Now all of them broke the speed limits were out doing bad.

He was alone now. Isolated from all the other Tuners. A smile played on his lips. This was what he liked, the wind in his face, no taunts from his fellow tuners.

"Hey, Axel! What are you doing here?" A voice called from behind him. He sighed as he looked back to see that Boost was approaching fast from behind. The purple glow from under his chassis was too distinct to mistake for another Eclipse. This was Boost alright. "This is our turf."

"I'm just passing through, Boost." Axel replied in a monosyllabic tone. His eyes trained forward. He especially didn't like Boost who was his fellow-model. He was always being annoyed because of being the same model as Boost except that he didn't race.

"Yeah! That's what they all say." Boost aligned himself up with Axel so they were side by side. Axel pushed forward but Boost followed his movement.

"Come on. Let me pass." Axel pleaded as he pushed forward again, only getting the same result.

"You have to race me." He said triumphantly, "And beat me first!" His eyes glowing with enthusiasm and determination. Axel gave a sigh knowing he would have no other choice.

"Alright you win!" Axel closed his eyes. A strong rumble came from his dual exhaust pipe and loud roar came from his engine. When he opened his eyes, blue neon lights gleamed from beneath his body. He was in his complete Tuner form.

Boost had to blink in disbelief. This wasn't the Axel he knew. The Axel he knew was very proper, kind, friendly, and all that. Now he was seeing an import that had the appearance of complete racer within. He grinned mischievously.

"3, 2, 1," He counted down fast and a split second before go his tires squealed as he shouted, "GO!" Axel was shocked with the sudden cheat. He roared and followed quickly with a downshift. He pulled ahead of Boost. Boost looked at him while Axel cast a sideward glance at Boost. Boost pulled forward with a noisy roar. Axel up shifted and pulled calmly ahead of Boost.

Boost was thrilled, yet worried at the same time. He was happy that Axel was giving him a wonderful race, but on the other hand his rep was going to be damaged if he lost. He pulled ahead of the other young Eclipse and turned into an exit.

Axel followed suit not paying attention to the signs. He weaved his way here and there through the traffic and turned into the exit. Boost was a little ways off and all the way ahead he could see a T-junction where Boost already has took a turn to the right.

"Haha!" Boost laughed, "Take that turn trying to catch me, kid!" He slowed a bit to see how Axel would handle this.

Axel accelerated constantly. He knew what to do hoping that it would just be clear of traffic. As he approached the T-junction he pushed on the brake, swerved to the right, pulled the handbrake making his rear end slide out. And now he counter-steered towards the left. He was in a drift through the T-junction, leveled out as he passed Boost and slowed down.

"There!" Axel said sternly as he let Boost approach. He wasn't too happy to have won but there. Now Boost must leave him alone. Axel turned off his neon lights and waited for Boost.

"You gave me a scratch!" Boost shouted angrily as he rammed into Axel's left side.

Axel was pushed off the road and started to slip on the dirt. When he got back on the road Boost nudged him back off the road and when Axel went off his front right tire blew up as it hit a rock and the wheel rim cracked. He tried to turn frantically to the left. His front right axel was broken and felt very painful but he still tried to get on the road. Just then he saw a tree up ahead. He tried turning and pushing some more to get out of the way but the damage couldn't take the turn. He closed his eyes just before he crashed into the tree. He had turned a bit during his attempt so only his right front bumper hit, but from the speed he had he flipped over and crashed upside-down then tumbled over landing right side up.

He struggled to see ahead of him. Boost was laughing as he sped off but stopped laughing as he was being chased by a police car. "Have… fun… Boost…" Axel said as he fell off into unconsciousness. Just as he did, he left his hazards on.


	2. Vague History

The elderly Mercury Cruiser returned from chasing the leader of the Delinquent Road Hazard. They haven't learned their lesson. He returned empty handed though. Anyway he returned to his post but just before he settled down he noticed two pale orange lights flashing in the distance. They appeared to be hazards. 

"What could be the problem?" Sheriff whispered to himself before heading over to help. But as he approached his headlights reflected a Mitsubishi Eclipse. "Boost!" He mistook the Eclipse for the leader of the Delinquents. But he just chased him off in the opposite direction. He took a closer look and saw that it was someone else and was in great need of help. The paint was scratched off the sides, hood, and roof. There was a big dent on the right side of the front bumper and the rest looked like it rolled at least once and skid a bit. The front right tire was bent awkwardly compared to the rest of the chassis alignment.

Sheriff turned and sped off to fetch Mater.

Axel opened his eyes slowly. His body ached from front body to rear end. His right axle connecting to the wheel felt sore and bent a bit. He looked about with unfocused eyes. He could make out a white wall. That's all. After a while he heard drilling and other sounds. Then he heard voices coming from beside him. As he tried to recognize what he was saying his nerves for pain kicked in. All the sore parts turned to searing pain.

"Ah!"

The Hudson paused and looked at his patient. "Don't worry, son." He said encouragingly. "You'll be fine. The anesthetic should come into effect slowly. For now just relax."

The Eclipse fell back into a comforting sleep.

His eyes flew open. He saw the Hudson in front of him, accompanied by a bluish silver metallic Porsche 911 and a fiery red Race car. He looked at each one with questioning eyes.

"You're gonna be alright." The red race car spoke up. "The Doc fixed you pretty well."

"Welcome to Radiator Springs!" The Porshe spoke. "I'm Sally."

"Lightning McQueen." The red race car said.

"Doc Hudson." The Hudson replied.

The Eclipse nodded and said weakly. "I'm Axel."

"Nice to meet you." Lightning replied. "You'll need a new paint job, but man you look cool. For a Tuner."

"I do?" Axel said as he looked at himself. The paint was gone here and there but his body was repaired with its streamlined design. He rolled slowly following Lightning and Sally out.

Lightning spoke to Axel as they rolled along. "You look like someone." He looked at Axel's body, though battered, the make of the model could be easily figured out. "An Eclipse?" Axel nodded in reply. "Do you know Boost? He looks like—You okay?" At the mention of the name Boost, Axel stopped in his tracks.

"I'm… fine." He stuttered as a memory flooded his mind.

He was a young kid car cruising along a street orphaned after his parents were taken by a car crash. There he meets Boost who befriended him because of their similar looks and traits. He was adopted by Boost's family.

They were friends for a long time. Boost didn't have the large spoiler nor did he have those neon lights glowing underneath him. But one day a group of tuners came and befriended them. Once they came Boost went bad. He started breaking rules and doing illegal drag races. Axel tried to keep from being tied to Boost but neither did he want to lose his friend. One day Boost got pissed at Axel and caused a great accident that looked similar to what Axel's parents have been in and caused a kid to lose his parents too. Ever since that day Axel always hated Boost and even despises him. Though actually, the thing he knows, and what Boost doesn't know is that he is Boost's…

"Hello?" Lightning waved his front tire in front of Axel to catch his attention. Axel shook his head back into reality.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little sore from the bumps." Axel slowly rolls along the road. They led him to the gas diner, Flo's V8 Café. He was given a serving of pure unleaded gasoline, which he requested, and a warm welcome to Radiator Springs.

"Do you mind me asking," Lightning started as he finished his order, "Do you know Boost? Leader of the Delinquent Road Hazards?" Lightning saw the look in Axel's eyes knowing that he may have hit a nerve, or a gear, and was about to change the topic when Axel spoke up.

"I do know him." He looked into Lightning and Sally's eyes. "He's my step brother, and I'm… his adopted brother." he said going in circles trying to humor himself. "Well, I wish he wasn't now."

"So…" Sally said skeptically to the young innocent car. "You have a grudge?"

"Not really… Well I don't call it a grudge." He said as he took another sip. "I don't really hate people. I just, don't like them for something they have done." He turned to look at the body art shop. "Is that where we're heading to next?"

"Yeah!" Lightning said. "You ready for a touch-up. Your silver-metallic paint job, or what was left of it, was nice. I could just imagine it…" He held up his wheels to emphasize his imagination as if Axel were in a frame.

"Lightning. You're not an artist." Sally joked, "You're a racecar." She pointed out, chuckling,before leading Axel to the Body Art Shop. Lightning stood there taken aback.

"I can dream can't I?" Lightning said as he followed.

"What more do you have to dream?" Axel asked laughing. "You're a famous racecar!"

"Right!" Lightning nudged Axel playfully with his right wheel.

"Ow." Axel flinched as it hit his injured axle.

"Oh, sorry." They all laughed.

* * *

I know it isn't too action-packed as I would have hoped but please review. Thanks for those who reviewed :) 


	3. Recover and Pain

Axel got a new paint job at Ramone's body art shop. After a lot of discussing with Ramone who kept insisting to apply a pinstripe design or a 70's look body art, Axel came out with a sleek black metallic coating which reflected a silver hue. He headed over to Cozy Cone for a good night's sleep.

The next morning, he came out to meet Lightning and Doc who where at the dirt track in the back of Radiator Springs. He approached wondering why they wanted him here after Lightning mentioned the night before. As he approached the Doc turned to face him.

"You'll have to exercise that axle of yours if you want to get in motion as you used to." Doc said calmly. Axel nodded wordlessly and went down into the dirt track. "Now run two laps here. It may be a bit tricky considering the terrain. You may take, if you wish, three so that one lap is like warm-up. You wouldn't want to waste all that carefully tuned power you have in you."

Axel only shrugged as he drove of at a slow space. He felt the very lose gravel and stone beneath his tires. As he rounded the last turn he noticed that the corner would be hard at a very fast speed. Only possible way to get through it is to probably do a drift. As he crossed the line that signaled the start Doc called out, "Take it easy and accelerate, slow and steady."

Lightning on the other hand wanted to see the complete speed and skills of Axel, "Go full power!" Doc gave him a glare.

Axel accelerated and met the first turn a very good race line and he sped off. He accelerated put the pedal to the floor. His engine roared and he sped down to the tricky session of the track. Despite Doc's call to slow down, Axel turned right then over steered, his rear end tailgating, and counter-steered to maintain the drift. He crossed the finish line with Lightning's lower jaw crashed to the ground.

Doc smiled as the young recovering Eclipse approached. "You're in tip-top shape. Tuner's, especially your kind, has this innate ability to recover quickly." Axel just smiled at the comment.

* * *

Boost met up with the rest of the Delinquent Road Hazards at this cafe. "Just took care of Axel." He said monotonously.

"You did?" Wingo replied. "But isn't he your adopted brother?"

Boost turned to glare at the Civic named Wingo, "I don't care anymore! He didn't want to join us! I invited him to join us to be the most notorious gang on the highway!" Boost turned to his drink, "He told us off to the police! Getting us that time in juvenile!"

"Boost." DJ started, his voice angry yet seemed to be filled with understanding. "He was trying to make us see our wrong doings. He was young, ok. That's all-"

"That's not all!" Boost shouted. "He-, what he did-" Boost stuttered at a loss of words. A sneeze interrupted the silence. Everyone looked quizzically at Snot Rod.

"Well, what's the problem?" he said as if he didn't care. "You took care of him, he's dead, and now we're all here."

"He's right Boost." DJ replied, "He's nothing to us, and now to the world happy?"

Boost wandered off, he had this feeling in the pit of his tank. "I know he's still alive…" A tear trickled down Boost's eye remembering a time in the past.

His family just adopted the young Axel. They were cruising along the highway from a vacation. He challenged Axel to a race, but knew better since Axel refused. He pushed Axel who lost control. He hit the dad of Boost who wasn't expecting anything and lost control. There were a lot of cars that day heading back from the Piston Cup. A domino effect ensued, cars crashing into each other.

After all the mayhem has fell quiet, Boost was staring across the wreck. This was road rage! There was a kid crying as his parents remained still. So was his. A tear fell. He glared at Axel. _If it weren't for his handling, his_ Boost thought with rage, _for him! This wouldn't happen!_ Boost sped off his mind furious.

Boost shook his hood. Nothing would be done now. He got his revenge.


	4. Tension Racing

A lonely young tuner tries to escape the realm of rule-breaking tuners and Boost his 'fellow model'. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cars or the canon characters from the movie. They are © to Disney and Pixar. I only own the Mitsubishi Eclipse Axel.

* * *

"Let's get that Sheriff to chase us." Boost said turning around. "After these _mod_s, he will never get us!"

"Yeah!" DJ exclaimed. Snot Rod sneezed and flew in reverse for a while. Snot Rod returned sniffing.

"Let's give it a shot!" Wingo said as he revved his engine and followed Boost unto the Highway.

"Let's, motor." Boost said as he accelerated off. _And maybe I can make sure he's gone._ He added to himself before returning his thoughts to the cars on the highway.

* * *

"So." Lightning said as he and Axel cruised along the back country. "Wanna race?"

Axel shrugged. "I don't know." He looked at Lightning. "I'm not supposed to speed."

"It's all right," Lightning said. "Just from here to that end of the pavement."

"I think I would rather just to relax and cruise back." Axel looked forward.

"Oh, ok." Lightning replied. They slowly cruised until they reached the outskirts of Radiator Springs. By the time they reached there you can hear a screeching of tires and several rumbling revs of engines.

"I know that sound…" Axel muttered. "That unmistakable pitch."

"What?"

"That's Boost." After saying it, the chase between the Delinquents and Sheriff following at their tails passed by unexpectedly. Axel narrowed his eyes and made a quick U-turn.

"Where are you going, Axel?" Lightning asked as Axel headed off.

"To settle a score." He raced forward. "I have snapped." Was all Axel can tell himself as he thought over his course of actions which was out of his normal self. "Oh well. Time to run." He raced after the Delinquents.

* * *

"Boost." DJ asked looking back. "Who is that behind the Sheriff?"

Boost glanced backwards but the car that was tailgating the Sheriff had his headlights turned on maximum and concealed the other. "I don't know." He made a sharp turn and the rest of the Delinquents followed along the sharp turn. "But for sure he is a Tuner. And chances are, he's going to distract him for us."

Axel raced forward beside the Sheriff. "Sheriff, I don't think you can make that turn. I can go on ahead."

"Alright." Sheriff replied with a notably tired voice. "Just be careful."

"I will." Axel accelerated to 180 KPH, since that is what he was equipped with unlike the rest of the standard cars. He reached the corner and hit the brakes but at the same time held the throttle down. He maintained his grip along the tight turn and as he cleared it on the outer edge of the road he accelerated.

"Um, Boost." Snot Rod looked back. "I think he's on the cops side."

"WHAT?!" Boost looked back in his rearview mirror. "No self-respecting Tuner will ever side with a--!" Boost was silenced. "Except for…" Then it dawned on him.

"Boost!!!" Axel called out. "You have caused enough trouble already!"

"He's alive?!" Boost saw Axel pull up next to him.

"How about this. We settle it here and now." DJ asked. "Then probably we can get it over with.

"Alright." Boost complied along with Axel. The Tuners slowed to a halt.

"What race type?" Axel asked staring unblinking at Boost. Boost returned the glare.

"Drag." Boost smiled. "Along this highway."

"You're on." Axel replied. "I will make you stop all these illegal stuff now!"

"And by how?"

"Wrecking your pride!" Axel smirked still unblinking.

"How would you do that?" Boost shook his hood. "That's impossible by beating me just once."

"We are racing on your home turf." Axel reminded him. "I am a newcomer to your turf."

"You have a point but it won't work."

"Let's get it on!" Wingo exclaimed. "Everyone to the start!" Snot Rod and DJ marked the starting line. DJ put on some heated race music. The bass pounding in their ears, however the roars that came from the two Eclipses' engines were far more louder.

"Let's get that Sheriff to chase us." Boost said turning around. "After these _mod_s, he will never get us!"

"Yeah!" DJ exclaimed. Snot Rod sneezed and flew in reverse for a while. Snot Rod returned sniffing.

"Let's give it a shot!" Wingo said as he revved his engine and followed Boost unto the Highway.

"Let's, motor." Boost said as he accelerated off. _And maybe I can make sure he's gone._ He added to himself before returning his thoughts to the cars on the highway.

* * *

I'm sorry if it took a long time to continue. I was busy with school and had one heck of a writer's block. I'm not sure if it's still interesting but please review. Thanks! 


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